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Whoever said whale watching was difficult? Admittedly, without a little homework and a smattering of good luck, you can spend hours staring at an apparently empty sea. But there are a few places in the world – in Europe, even – where you would have to be blindfolded not to see them.

Andenes is just such a place. Many of the residents of this picturesque Norwegian village, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, can watch whales from their beds, kitchen sinks and desks. They just have to look up, and there they are – just offshore, blowing, breaching, lobtailing and fluking.

Admittedly, most species are around in greatest numbers during midwinter, when it can be seriously cold – temperatures ranged from 40F to –10F (4C to –23C) during my visit – and you need winter tyres for your car and metal spikes for your boots. Plus, of course, it’s dark. Not quite for 24 hours a day, but close. The sun peeped over the horizon for the first time in nearly two months just before I arrived and, while I was there, we had no more than a smidgen of light each day.

"Many of the residents of Andenes, 200 miles north of the Arctic Circle, can watch whales from their beds, kitchen sinks and desks"Credit:
AP/FOTOLIA

But that’s a small price to pay for world-class whale watching and, besides, I’d swap a full day of grey drizzle back home for a few hours of glorious Andenes light in a heartbeat. Everything (even our tour bus) looked dazzlingly photogenic in the gorgeous sunrise-sunset (the sun rose and fell so quickly that it was hard to tell which was which) and the pink twilight on either side. And with Arctic darkness come the Northern Lights – a suitably ethereal distraction after the whales.

There’s just one problem. I went for a meal in Andenes on the first evening, and on the menu was whale meat. I explained to the owner why I would not be eating there, and walked out. But it did leave a metaphorical bad taste in my mouth. Norway still hunts whales (no fewer than 660 minkes were killed last year alone) and, sadly, it is hard to rave about the whale watching without a rant about the whaling. I live in hope that, one day, the Norwegians will realise whales are worth much more alive than dead.

Indeed, they are exceedingly lucky to have so many so close to shore. On most trips, we saw whale blows literally within minutes of leaving Andenes harbour. There were killer whales patrolling the shoreline in close-knit family groups, heavy-breathing humpbacks in twos and threes, gangs of giant fin whales (the second-largest animals on the planet) slicing through the melee like riot police with linked arms; and, in deeper water offshore, individual sperm whales catching their breath after long dives into the cold, dark depths of the fjord. Their water-droplet blows lit up like sparklers in the golden light. And all this against the magnificent snow-covered mountain backdrop of the Vesteralen archipelago.

One of the most thrilling things about whale watching is that you never know what you’re going to see. As we headed out on our Whalesafari boat, the M/S Reine, all we knew was that there would be a surprise. One day we had an astonishing display by five humpback whales when they demonstrated the best of whale acrobatics right next to the boat; we were cheering and clapping for the entire hour-long show.

On another day we saw a family group of long-finned pilot whales; they appeared from nowhere, swam around the boat a few times, and were gone.

The lighthouse at Andenes

But the real stars of the show in Andenes – even though you don’t get to see them – are herring. Billions of these small silvery fish spend the winter hiding along the northern Norwegian coast. There are no plankton to eat at this time of year, so their main aim is merely to stay alive. Andfjorden, the fjord next to town, may be safer than the open ocean, but clearly no one has told the hapless fish that the whales, seals, larger fish, sea eagles and a substantial human fishing fleet are all in on their little secret. They must be nervous wrecks, always looking over their shoulders.

It is such a feast that hundreds of humpback whales have changed their traditional annual migrations to take advantage. They are supposed to spend the winter on their breeding grounds in the Caribbean, with humpback whales from other parts of the North Atlantic, but now they prefer to stay behind and stuff themselves instead. They are mischievous, to say the least: they listen for signs of killer whales hunting, wait for them to herd the herring into manageable balls, and then rush in to gobble the lot in a single great mouthful.

I saw it happen myself – from the harbour wall.

1. Blue whale: Husavik, Iceland

You’d have thought something almost as long as a Boeing 737 would be impossible to miss, but the blue whale is hard to find. It is frighteningly rare and there are few places where it turns up with any regularity. But Europe is a great place to start. Try Husavik, on the north coast of Iceland, during June and early July; along the way, you are likely to see humpback whales, minke whales, white-beaked dolphins and other species as a bonus (northsailing.is). Alternatively, try the Azores, 930 miles west of mainland Portugal, in the spring; this whale watching hub is also known for its sperm whales and elusive beaked whales (espacotalassa.com).

2. Bowhead whale: Disko Bay, Greenland

The only large whale that lives exclusively in the Arctic, the bowhead is famous for being one of the longest-lived animals on Earth: the record, so far, is 211 years old (and that individual was killed by whalers, so it may have lived much longer). The best place in Europe to see bowheads is Disko Bay, in West Greenland, where numbers peak at about 1,200 in March, April and May (wildwings.co.uk). It is not uncommon to see 20-30 in one day just outside Qeqertarsuaq harbour. Closer to home still, a stray bowhead whale turned up unexpectedly in the Isles of Scilly last February.

Humpbacks are known for their acrobaticsCredit:
AP/FOTOLIA

3. Humpback whale: Franz Josef Land, Russia

Herman Melville, author of Moby-Dick, described the humpback whale as “the most gamesome and light-hearted of all the world’s whales” – and it is a popular species with whale watchers, often performing spectacular acrobatics. Sightings of humpbacks are increasing off the coast of Britain and, as the eastern North Atlantic population recovers from a long history of intensive whaling, sightings are more common. There are few organised whale-watching tours in what is referred to as European Russia – the part of the country west of the Ural Mountains and including the Franz Josef Land archipelago – but the potential is considerable. As well as humpbacks, it is home to all three Arctic whales – bowhead, narwhal and beluga. Discover the World (discover-the-world.co.uk) offers a 12-night cruise to Spitsbergen and Franz Josef Land departing in July. Other good bets are Greenland, Iceland and Norway.

4. Minke whale: Isle of Mull, Scotland

Minke whales are often overlooked in favour of their larger relatives. But they are still giants (up to 30ft long) and will sometimes approach boats closely. They can be seen in most parts of Europe but Britain is especially good. It is the most common whale in the country and prefers shallow, inshore waters, which makes it readily visible from land.

Most sightings are in the summer, and one renowned hotspot is the west of Scotland, where Sea Life Surveys (sealifesurveys.com) offers whale watching cruises departing from Tobermory, on the Isle of Mull. Minke whales can also be seen in the Moray Firth, the northern North Sea, the central Irish Sea and off south-west England.

A sperm whale takes a diveCredit:
AP/FOTOLIA

5. Sperm whale: Bay of Biscay, France/Spain

Sperm whales can hold their breath for two hours or more. Between dives, however, they lie still at the surface, catching their breath. Males prefer colder, higher latitudes, such as off the coast of Norway, but females prefer warmer waters around the Azores, the Canary Islands and the Mediterranean. A quick and inexpensive way to see them is to join a passenger ferry plying the Bay of Biscay between Plymouth or Portsmouth and northern Spain; you could see other species as well, from fin whales to striped dolphins (brittanyferries.com).

6. Beluga: Svalbard, Norway

Belugas are best known for three things: being very pale to pure white, making an impressive array of facial expressions, and their great vocal repertoire – once described by a beluga scientist as sounding like a string orchestra tuning up before a concert. They are common in Greenland and European Russia, but the best place to go is the Svalbard archipelago in Norway, where they can be seen close to shore; I once watched several hundred milling around in the water outside the airport in Longyearbyen, while queuing to go through security (exodus.co.uk).

7. Killer whale: Shetland Islands, Scotland

It’s impossible to prepare someone for their first encounter with a killer whale, or orca. Among the most impressive predators on the planet, killer whales have been recorded all around Britain, especially in the summer and in the north and west – the Shetland Islands are a hotspot (shetlandwildlife.co.uk). One of the best-known pods is the West Coast Community, which is made up of 14 individuals (though they are rarely all seen together); a dedicated army of whale watchers has been tracking them from headlands all along the Atlantic seaboard for many years. Iceland is another killer whale hotspot, but if you want almost guaranteed sightings – in large numbers – Norway is the heart of killer whale watching in Europe (whalesafari.no).

8. Bottlenose dolphin: Cardigan Bay, Wales

The star of television, films and (unfortunately) marine parks around the world, the bottlenose dolphin is the archetypal dolphin. One of the best known is Fungie, the so-called Dingle Dolphin. In 1984, he turned up out of the blue at the ancient fishing port of Dingle, in south-west Ireland, and has lived around the harbour entrance ever since. In Europe, bottlenose dolphins can be seen anywhere from Croatia and Slovenia to Gibraltar and Greece; they are probably the most familiar dolphins in Britain, frequently occurring close to shore, and there is a substantial population in Cardigan Bay, where the Cardigan Bay Marine Wildlife Centre (cbmwc.org) arranges boat trips. The Moray Firth, south-west England and Jersey are other good locations.

9. White-beaked dolphin: North Shields, Tyne and Wear

You may not have heard of the white-beaked dolphin. But in whale watching circles, this large, attractive dolphin is a must-see species. It is widely distributed in Europe, tending to prefer cooler waters, but Britain offers some of the best chances of a sighting. There is a sizeable resident population along the Northumberland coast, and pelagic boat trips from North Shields, Tyne and Wear (northernexperiencewildlifetours.co.uk) see as many as 100 in a day. Other hotspots include Lyme Bay, Dorset, and parts of Scotland – especially the Outer Hebrides, the Pentland Firth, Orkney and Aberdeen.

10. Harbour porpoise: Hamburg, Germany

The diminutive, undemonstrative harbour porpoise doesn’t leap about like many of its relatives – a glimpse of its dark back and triangular dorsal fin is all it usually shows of itself. However, it does prefer shallow coastal waters and can be seen from shore in many European countries. Britain is considered a stronghold for this species, while it is the focus of attention on whale watching trips in Sweden, Denmark and Germany – especially the island of Sylt (en.sylt.de). Harbour porpoises are being seen increasingly often in some of Germany’s larger rivers – even as far upstream as Hamburg, where locals have been observing them from cafés along the Elbchaussee and from the pontoon in Teufelsbrück.

Discover the World (01737 900663; discover-the-world.co.uk) offers a four-night “Orcas and Aurora with Mark Carwardine” tour from £1,745 per person. Departure dates for 2017 announced soon.

Book offer: Mark Carwardine’s Guide to Whale Watching in Britain and Europe (Bloomsbury, £16.99) is published on February 25. To pre-order your copy, call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk